The Thing About Skywalkers Is
by My Barbaric YAWP
Summary: The thing about Skywalkers is—the voice in her head sounds so much like him, it stings—the thing about Skywalkers is, they just never give up.


"Rey Skywalker," she says, looking out at Luke and Leia shimmering in the distance. They're her family now, but they're missing a few people.

Han.

Ben.

_Do Solos go somewhere else?_ Is there some cantina in the sky for space pirates and anti-heros and Jedis who went rogue only to pull it back right at the end and save the day? If there is, she'd like to visit. It sounds like a fun place.

But she's stuck here, instead. The last Jedi. The only Jedi. One girl in all the Galaxy. There are others with powers, of course. She won't be the only Jedi for long. She'll have to train them all and remake the order. She won't hurt for force-sensitive company anytime soon.

But still—it's not the same. It's not the same as Luke—her reluctant master—and Leia—her master of necessity—and Ben—

Her everything.

_The thing about Skywalkers is—_the voice in her head sounds so much like him, it stings—_the thing about Skywalkers is, they just never give up._

That's the moment she decides. There in the desert sand of Tatooine, with a strange woman staring at her and Luke and Leia's sabers burning a hole in the sand, she decides that Ben Solo doesn't get to fuck off to a sky cantina and leave her behind.

They have work to do.

First she needs to pick a spot for their new order. Kef Bir seems like a good choice, if Jannah will let her. Finn seems to have an in, and more and more ex-storm troopers are finding the force now that Palpatine's dampeners are dying along with him. The agreement is made—one big island near the wreck of the Death Star in exchange for Jedi training for any who want it.

The spot she picks for her temple is deliberate. This is where Ben came back to the light, after all, and that energy will take her pupils far. The backdrop of the Death Star doesn't hurt. It's a stark reminder of what happens when the dark side goes unchecked.

There are personal reasons, too. She's on a quest, after all, and the planet Endor is a name to conjure by. It's a short skip in the Falcon to reach the forest moon, and the Ewoks are gracious enough to show her the place where the last war ended. There's joy in the forest here, and peace, and if she listens hard enough, she can almost hear Leia's laugh twinned with Han's gruff chuckle.

That's why she's come, of course. She's done the math, and after she tried the Falcon, this was the next logical choice. This was where Ben began, on the night of the Death Star's destruction. He was made here.

And he'll be made again.

It takes time. Time to set up the temple on Kef Bir. Time to start training Finn and his recruits. Time to find just the right spot in the forest. Time to talk Luke out of his huff at the realization he'd been about 20 feet away when Ben was conceived. Time to spare Leia a few blushes when it comes to the specifics.

Time, finally, to call Ben's saber from the ocean and give it back.

Even she doesn't know how it works, in the end. She lies on the forest floor, staring up at the night sky, finally feeling the stirrings of joy within her, of peace and victory and love. Time and space seem to slow—stop—restart—again and again and again. The moon is in labor, and so is she, laboring for her love here in the place of his first connection to the force.

"You never give up, do you?" His voice is exasperated and amused. Warm. Beloved. "You Skywalkers are all alike, you know. Never met a challenge you couldn't wear down to an unconditional surrender."

"It's our boundless optimism," she says dreamily to the night sky. Her labor is done, but the work remains. "You Solos can't resist it."

"You got that right." He's beside her then, laying out on the forest floor, just barely not touching her outstretched hand. "I never could resist you. Not from the first moment I saw you. You were the girl for me."

"You were an asshole," she says, and he chuckles, soft and low. "But I loved you even then."

"Good." He takes her hand, warm and solid in the dark. "Cause I'm back for the last time, and Rey—I'm not going anywhere."


End file.
